


come out to play

by TheCookieMonster77



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Other, Worldbuilding, Zeno pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 10:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12010623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCookieMonster77/pseuds/TheCookieMonster77
Summary: The past creeps up on him at the oddest times.





	come out to play

**Author's Note:**

> heads up the end does have some canon-typical violence. otherwise, enjoy some 1.5k of shenanigans mixed with some worldbuilding

Dappled sunshine spills through the leaves, warming Zeno as he lays out in the grass while he naps. The sweet smell of fried meat and roasted herbs tempts him from his sleep, but Zeno keeps his eyes shut, reluctant to pull away from his dreams of apples and rain and jumping purple deer. Awareness creeps onto him slowly, gold-red sunlit eyelids and cheery laughter of his brothers nudging him to consciousness.

" _Long long ago,_  
_The bright sun had been devoured,  
__And the world turned black._ "

Sleep pulls further away at the softly sung song. Zeno blinks his eyes open, world fuzzy in its brightness and dark spots, and wrinkles his nose at the onslaught of light. The song continues on, soft and sweet.

" _Call the four dragons._  
_Let's bow our heads,_  
_Bow our heads to the fire dragon._  
_He is mighty and grand,_  
_The ruler of our land.  
__Let's bow our heads to the fire dragon._ "

Zeno blinks the last vestiges of sleep away and sees Yun tending to the campfire and the two deer Yona had returned with before Zeno fell asleep. Yun sings the song absentmindedly as he pauses curing the extra meat to check on the skewers of deer meat roasting over the fire.

" _Eikou came in the dark,_  
_Came in rage and swords sharp,  
__And tore the land apart._ "

Yun doesn't seem to realize he's singing at all, barely pausing in checking the skewers. The last line ends on a thoughtless hum as Yun nods in satisfaction. He then turns back to drying and salting the meat, picking up the lullaby instantly.

" _Let's call the fire dragon,_  
_Ruler of our land,_  
_To call the storm and fire of our hearts.  
__And the storm-_ "

"Zeno knows that song," Zeno interrupts.

Yun startles, head snapping over to glare at Zeno. "Zeno! You scared me!"

Zeno ignores this and rolls over onto his growling stomach. He crawls forward, eyes trained on the cooking meat, and he licks his lips. Yun squawks and snatches up a nearby stick to ward Zeno off, brandishing it like a sword. "Don't you dare try to eat before the rest, ya hungry lazy bones!"

Zeno flops to the ground with a pout, a mere few feet from the delicious smelling meal. "Meaaaaan…" Zeno whines, stretching his hands out and beckoning for the meat to come to him. He stares up at Yun pitifully and the crocodile tears well up. "You should treat Zeno nicer, Zeno's an old man!"

Yun snorts. "Yeah, an old  _baby_ \- Hey!" Yun snaps the back of Zeno's creeping hand with his stick and glares disapprovingly. "No sneaking treats!"

Zeno whines pitifully into the dirt, but his hands obediently stay where they are. He grumbles loudly about disrespecting children to Yun's amusement and his smirks, but Zeno doesn't move closer to the tempting food before him.

His whining dies off quick enough, Zeno content to drool into the dirt and doze where he's at. Before he can nod off though, Yun hesitantly clears his throat.

"Hmm?"

Yun frowns momentarily, but his hesitance disappears when he sees Zeno watching him. "Hey Zeno…" Yun licks his lips, back straightening. "What does the lullaby mean?"

Zeno rests his cheek on the dirt floor. Small sharp rocks dig into his cheek and Zeno closes his eyes, praying for sleep. "Why do you think the lullaby means something?"

Yun pauses. "Well, I mean, it talks about the four dragons and-hey!" Yun pokes Zeno's head with his stick until Zeno flops onto his back and tilts his head until he meets his eyes. "I'm talking to you," Yun sulks. His pout almost looks like a smile from upside down.

Adorable.

"I've been wondering about it for a while, ever since I learned you beasts were real."

Zeno sniffs loudly. "Rude."

Yun doesn't notice, too wrapped up in his own head. "I just figured if you knew it and it's about the four dragons, it actually holds history and isn't just a song for fire tribe kids."

Zeno flops back down and frowns up at the clear blue sky. "Does Yun think the two are mutually exclusive?"

"Well, uh, yeah kinda. Wait!"

Zeno hears the scramble before Yun's face pops into his view. The sunlight illuminates Yun's hair to golden-orange, a smouldering halo around his head. His flamelike hair is nothing on the spark in Yun's eyes, lips pulled into an eager smile as he latches onto the nuggets of information. "There is a story behind it?!"

Zeno shrugs. "What do you know about it?"

Yun pulls and tugs Zeno into an upright position, Zeno's sluggishness easily outmatched by Yun's enthusiasm. Yun leans in close when Zeno's satisfactorily upright, wiggling in excitement.

"Just that it's a lullaby the fire nation sings to their kids because we're supposed to be the descendants of the red dragon."

Zeno wrinkles his nose. "They picked  _that_  one?"

Yun claps his hands, eyes wide and shining. "So you do know it!"

' _Yun never gives up when it comes to knowledge, does he?_ '

Zeno laughs sheepishly and resigns himself to letting Yun pick his old brain. "Of course Zeno knows it! Zeno is a part of it."

Yun gasps. "Really?! I knew it came after King Hiryuu, I didn't think it was so soon-"

"Kouka was a mess after my King died," Zeno interrupts absentmindedly. He leans back on his palms and looks up at the sunshine filled sky, serene blue. "Up until he died, most of Kouka's enemies were too scared to invade. But then the four dragons disappeared and it seemed like an easy target. Kouka's northern borders were the weakest, so Eikou invaded often."

Yun gasps, closer than Zeno expected, and Zeno looks down to Yun's wide eyes. "Eikou was a country?"

"Mhmm." Zeno scratches his growling stomach. Maybe if he's fast enough, he could nab a skewer before Yun could catch him. "It fell during the Long Queen's reign. Now it's the Sen Providence."

Yun's mouth falls open. "I forgot you're old and know stuff." Yun ignores Zeno's protests (or just doesn't hear them at all) as he sits back on his haunches, muttering to himself and picking apart the lyrics and then piecing the story back together. "So, what? The roar is all the battles Kouka fought with Eikou?"

"Hmm?" Zeno breaks out of his own musings and shakes his head. The faint smell of charred meat tickles his nose, but Zeno pushes it away. "Oh no, that was Zeno!"

Yun blinks. Cocks his head to the side. "What?"

Zeno nods cheerfully. "Yep. Zeno sneaked up on the Eikou army and yelled, 'BOO'-"

Yun yelps and falls back, one hand pressed to his heaving chest and mouth open in shock.

"-really loudly. Everyone was so scared they ran away and never came back!"

Yun shakes his head, a small and exasperated smile pulling at his lips. "You didn't have to yell it at  _me_ ," he grumbles half-heartedly, hand rubbing the spot over his heart.

Zeno grins, wide and toothy. "Yes Zeno did! Otherwise you wouldn't believe it was scary enough!"

Yun rolls his eyes and snorts. "I believe it, I believe it. You four are scary beasts."

Zeno laughs, loud and full. He beams at Yun and then taps his nose. "Yun's meat is burning."

"What does that-" Yun blinks, sniffing, before he catches the smell of smoke and burning fat. "Why didn't you say something?!" he shouts, up on his feet in a blink and kicking up dust in the scramble.

"Zeno did!"

Yun's a blur as he rushes to the fire. "SHUT UP AND HELP ME SAVE THE MEAT!"

Zeno tries not to laugh as Yun scrambles to the skewers, frantically tossing them away from the fire towards Zeno to catch. Zeno eagerly helps, trotting behind Yun to snatch up their group's lunch and start munching on one to sate his grumbling belly. The meat is tender and savory, perfect like usual. Unfortunately, Yun takes badly to Zeno's compliment, hollering about greedy beasts and chasing him around the campsite until the others join into the impromptu game of tag too.

Two skewers, three dragons, and a princess later, Zeno is flat on his back with Jae-ha's foot pinning him down. He stares up at the calm blue sky with the adrenaline still pumping through him and laughs and laughs with his friends, sunshine beaming gold down upon them.

* * *

A sword drives through his heart, but it's pain is nothing to the grief swallowing him whole.

Zeno stands up, half in a daze, uncaring of the swords peppering his chest. His head falls back and he stares up at the serene blue sky, too cheerful, too beautiful as he feels Guen, Abi, and Shuten die.

Zeno chokes, coughs up blood and bile until his throat is clear and all he's left gasping on is air and regret. Pulling out the swords is an afterthought, yanking, grasping, tearing them away as though they might take his feelings with him. The swords are gone, but the pain's still there and then he's going for his heart with claws, only to meet gold diamond skin, pain trapped-

"What  _are you?!_ "

Zeno can't focus, not on the hard ground beneath his knees or the shouts ringing around him. His head falls forward and his eyes fall on one of Eikou's general standing before him, bone white knuckles gripped around a shattered, shaking sword and his face pale and sweaty.

Zeno falls forward, hands gripping the bottom of the general's chainmail. "They're gone," he whispers, hoarse with grief. He curls in on himself, as though it might contain the pain.

The general's knees buckle. Zeno doesn't realize his presence, not even the remnants of the sword driven towards his heart.

Zeno digs his palms into his eyes. He barely registers the chainmail scraping across his eyes. "They're  _gone_."

Guen's cheerful smile-

Abi's soft caring eyes-

Shuten's boisterous laugh-

 _King Hiryuu_ -

"Let go of me!"

Zeno falls forward, pain ripping his heart with flames. " _They're GONE!_ "

His fist slams into the ground, dry hard earth cracking and splitting under his grief. Shouting erupts around him and Zeno opens his eyes to red. The world blurs around him and Zeno desperately looks to the sky, hoping- wishing-  _praying_ his brothers will come to take his soul with them.

The sky stays blue and empty, leaving him  _alone_.

Zeno tilts his head back and screams.

* * *

_And the storm,_  
_Let out a mighty roar,_  
_And all of Eikou cries in fear,  
_ _From the power of our fire's heart!_

**Author's Note:**

> "but cookie," you say, "it was the south invading, not the north!"  
> "shh," i say, gently cupping your cheeks, "for the narrative"
> 
> beginning of the lullaby is from chapters 10 & 59 with a few tweaks for flow. the rest of it and the history is mine
> 
>  
> 
> [come cry with me over dragon nerds](http://thecookiemonster77.tumblr.com/)


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